Fish-tray.



R. B. BENTLEY.

FISH TRAY.

APPLICATION FILED APR.4.1918.

1 ,30 1 ,O3 l Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

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sA'rEs ATE FISH-TRAY.

specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr'. 1,5, 1,919.-

Application filed April 4, 1918. Serial N o. 226,789.

T0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, RAYMOND B. BENTLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at East San Pedro, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fish-Trays, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to fish trays and especially to trays for preparing fish for market, and the invention consists in the novel' features herein shown, described and claimed.

Figure 1 is a perspective of a fish tray embodying the principles of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross section taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the tray members.

Fig. 4 is a detailed view on line 1 -t of Fig. 3.

In the canning or packing of sardines, the fish are first subjected to a process of removing the scales, then the head and entrails are removed and the fish are then soaked in strong brine. rIlhe next step is to thoroughly dry or desiccate the fish and the final step is to treat the dried fish with oil such as cotton seed oil, fish oil or the like, and pack the same in trade containers, such as tin cans.

The above process is the one ILOw generally used. In the old method, the fish, after removal from the brine, are placed in wire screen containers in bulk and subjected to the drying process. By reason of the fact that the fish are placed in bulk in the wire screen containers, the drying proceeds unevenly, and some of the fish in the interior of the mass are not dried in the same degree as those in the exterior layers. When the sh are segregated from the dried mass, they adhere together and a percentage of them become broken. These broken fish are rejected as refuse. The dried fish, it should be remembered are quite brittle, and this waste of broken fish cannot be avoided, even with careful handling.

It is an object of this invention to provide a tray for evenly and quickly handling the fish and avoiding the liability of breakgReferring to the drawings, 10 indicates a wire basket rectangular in cross-section in which a series of trays 11 are horizontally disposed in spaced relation to each other. Each tray 11 consists of a wire screen plate 12 having rolled edges 13 in which a supporting reinforcing rod 14 is disposed. The

short sides of the trays are provided with metal plates 15 bent upon themselves in a U- shaped manner as clearly shown in Fig. 5, in which the ends of the wire screen 12 are secured by means of rievts 16. Each end plate 15 is provided with a handle 17 formed of a strip of metal comprising a flat portion 18 spaced from and arallel to the end plate 15, vertical side memI ers 19 and end portions 20 lying flat on the plate 15 to which they are ,Secured by means of rivets 2l. The fish to be treated are placed on the trays in a single layer and spaced from each other, or flaked as it is called, there being four rows of sardines shown in Fig. 1. The flat portions 18 'of the handles 17 of each tray, except the topmnst one, serve as supports for the tray immediately above it, while the handles of the topmost tray support another wire screen container 10 which may be placed on top of the same.

After the fish have beenthrough the scale removing process and after the removal of the heads and entrails they are flaked on the trays as described and subjected to the brine, the drying process and the oil process while they are in this flaked condition on the trays. They are only handled again manually when removed from the trays and packed in the tin cans.

It is obvious that the fish are evenly and quickly processed and the danger of their being broken up is reduced to a minimum.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for treating fish comprising, a foraminous basket rectangular in plan with a flat bottom and straight sides, and a plurality of fiat foraminous trays removably stacked one upon the other in the basket and having means for spacing the trays apart.

2. An apparatus for treating fish comprising, a foraminous basket rectangular in plan with a fiat bottom and straight sides, and a plurality of foraminous trays removably stacked in the basket, each of said trays comprisinga fiat wire screen having rolled side edges, a wire in each of said rolled side edges and U-shaped plates secured to the ends of the trays and handles extending upwardly from the U-shaped plates, said handles serving to space the trays apart when the trays are stacked one upon the other in the basket. 3. A fish tray comprising, a foraminous basket rectangular in plan with a flat bottom and straight sides, and a plurality of forami-l nous tray members removably stacked one upon the other in the basket and having hancured to the U-shaped plates and extending dles serving to space the tray members apart. upwardly, so that the handles of one tray 4. A tray member-Comprising, 'a latwii'e Vmembeifwill Support the'next tray member 10 screen having rolled side edges, wires in each and .-hold the tray members spaced apart. 5 of said rolled side edges, U-shaped binding A 'In testimony whereof I have signed my plates. secured tov-theA ends of the tray be-r name to this specification. .Y tween the Y'endso'f the'wires, and'handles se-V RAYMONDV B.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents eaeh, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, l

Washington, D. C. 

